ART EXHIBITIONS

"The Hollow and the Whole"

Contemporary Ceramics

29 April - 23 May 2004

Opened by Grace Cochrane, Senior curator, Australian decorative arts and design, Powerhouse Museum

Thursday 29^th April, 2004 at 7pm.

Lynda Draper, Merran Esson, Simone Fraser, Bronwyn Kemp,Won Seok Kim,

Jenny Orchard, Bill Samuels, Mitsuo Shoji
Curators Merran Esson, Ruth Howard

This exhibition highlights the breadth in contemporary ceramics in Sydney and is focussed on "what is hollowness and what is wholeness?".

The different approaches in all the work relies on the exploration of volume, the richness of surface, variety of colour and diversity of ideas.

Lynda Draper's approach is reminiscent of pinching chewing gum or blu tak.

Merran Esson is interested in buckets and the metallic verdigris bronze that the glaze gives the surface. The work explores the function of pots and the role of function.

Simone Fraser throws her large forms on a wheel and stiffens them with a flame to a point where she can manipulate the fluidity of the clay, leaving her own finger impressions. Her dry glaze surfaces are a mixture of the dry Australian landscape and rusted metal.

Bronwyn Kemp's approach has always been to challenge materials, not relying only on fired clay but often unfired clay. In some recent work she has covered bread with clay and fired both to create illusions of domestic work.

Won Seok Kim's approach to his traditional Korean 'punchong ware' explores the natural colour of the clay with a white slip which is explored using stamping, carvings and finger marks. Combining the two cultures of Australia and Korea, his idea is to create Australian Punchong ware.

Jenny Orchard's totems have always explored the relationship of found objects and vegetables, brightly coloured and constructed.

Bill Samuels has been making his work from a load of gravel and exploring the qualities of the local clay which is mixed with the gravel. He has always been interested in using materials local to his studio in the Blue mountains.

Mitsuo Shoji incises and inlays the surface which takes on the quality of markings on stone.